


a different prologue

by ebonynightwriter



Series: Shallura Week 2017 [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, F/M, Fighting, Mentions of Violence, One-Shot, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Shallura Week 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-28 07:22:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11413032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebonynightwriter/pseuds/ebonynightwriter
Summary: An alternate universe in which Allura and Shiro are both prisoners of the Galra during his year of captivity.





	a different prologue

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:** This one is a touch different from my usual work. Instead of diving into the nitty gritty like I always do, I tried to step away and make it more of a summarization of events with an emphasis on minimal dialogue. That’s mostly because I didn’t have a lot of time to write this one into a fully fleshed out fic, but also because it was a bit of experimenting – and it was pretty fun to do! 
> 
> -.-
> 
>  **[shallura week (2017) // day 4](http://ebonynightwriter.tumblr.com/tagged/mine:%20shallura%20week%202017)** · potential / free
> 
> -.-

Even locked away, Shiro hears the rumors spread through the cells – whispers of a “princess” thought lost and dead echo, now a fellow prisoner of the Galra. No one has seen her, but there has so be _some_ reason they’re headed to central command. 

He’ll just have to wait and see.

.

.

.

The Galra are eager.

Shiro stands fifth from the front as they enter the arena: lights bright, crowds yelling, and he squints as one blurs past his eyes, shining on someone in the middle of the ring. As they march around, Shiro knows this is the one. The princess – right down to the crown and dress and long flowing hair – stands before Zarkon. And thought her wrists are bound in chains the air around her screams of defiance. Her expression is steely, eyes strong as ice as she stares down their captor. Zarkon sits back in his throne, and demands she give them ‘Voltron’.

She says ‘no’.

The whip _cracks_ as soon as the words leave her lips. The prisoner at the front of the line crumples with a curdling scream, a large gash across their back. The princess turns, her face twisted in horror. She looks back at Zarkon, telling him to stop this.

The whip cracks again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Shiro runs at the guard.

.

.

.

In the end they beat him, whip him and put a scar across his face. But he’s not dead, and he did land a punch that threw the guard for a spin. 

He doesn’t see the results of the arena, but he does know the rest of the prisoners come back fewer than before. They pass him as they’re led back to their cells, each of them gazing at him with a solemn message of “thanks”, so Shiro folds his hands together inside the solitary cell and calls it a victory. A small one. 

Almost, anyway.

.

.

.

His face hurts.

 _Everything_ hurts.

.

.

.

Two days pass. His nose is still crusted with dry, scaly blood when they bring her into his cell, and Shiro doesn’t know if it’s a stroke of irony or if the Galra prisons are just _that_ full. Either way, the exchange is awkward, and as soon as guard moves down the hall the princess is watching him. Full and intently.

He does the same to her.

Eventually, she breaks the silence, and asks for his name.

.

.

.

She calls it “the universes only hope”.

It’s a hard thing for him to picture. After all, five mechanical lions transforming into a mythical mechanical man-robot sounds like something straight from a movie – or maybe a tv show. But her words are confident and sincere, so he has no choice but to believe in this mighty weapon, even if it sounds far-fetched. She explains that the Galra want to know about the whereabouts of the remaining robotic lions, and she’s the only one that can give them the information. She also says she’d die before that happened.

Shiro believes that too.

.

.

.

He may have a princess in his cell, but that doesn’t mean his time in the arena is over.

As soon as he’s fit to fight, they throw him back into the fray. A new batch of prisoners stand tattered and crimson-stained – having gone through the “initiation” rounds. He and the other seasoned fighters stand at the entry points as the Galra overseer goes over the usual rules of engagement – the one who wins will be freed. Shiro sees the look in the new ‘recruits’ eyes as this is said – it shines in them. A spark of renewed hope.

He takes his sword, and knows better.

To the Galra, freedom means death. 

And there are no winners.

.

.

.

He has trouble sleeping, even more so after his time in the ring.

She sits an arm’s length away, knees drawn up to her chest in the silent, cold night of space. He stares at the ceiling. Their time together is silent for the most part, having exhausted most topics of conversation in the passing weeks and months. But it’s in moments like these, when he fears a vengeful dagger in the night and the screams of the arena echo fresh in his mind that she puts aside her grief and speaks of home.

She paints the most beautiful pictures for him – glittering lakes filled with starlight, fields of sweet flowers dancing in the sun – she talks about her mother and father and a loving mechanic with an orange mustache. She talks about her childhood, about running through the fields and all the trouble she used to get into. He listens to it all, even the ones he’s heard twice, and tries to tell her about his home on occasion – but it’s not nearly as poetic as hers. But she listens all the same.

He doesn’t dream.

But when he wakes, he is restful.

.

.

.

When he returns from the arena, she is gone.

.

.

.

It’s weeks before he sees her again.

Shiro stands again in the ring, but this time, she stands above it, waiting at Zarkon’s side with her hair cut short and a small scar across her cheek. Mizak makes the ground shake like thunder and his weapon flies like a hawk – but he can’t stop looking up at the podium every other chance he get to make sure she’s still there. Every time she catches his eye, and hers scream one thing:

 _Win_.

.

.

.

Mizak falls, and he is given a new name.

Three days later, he is given a new arm.

.

.

.

A Galra named “Ulaz” breaks him out one night.

Sendak’s ship is far from the command center, but Allura is there as Ulaz leads him around the corner. His breath hitches in his throat he’s so surprised, though he doesn’t know why he’s overcome when he sees her. It takes Ulaz saying his name twice to get his attention again, and he tells them they’re the universes only hope. He gives them a map and instructions before running off to set a distraction.

And it works… for a while.

When the guard’s see them Allura takes him by his metal hand, and tells him to run – the pods are this way.

.

.

.

The doors close too slowly. Sentries are closing in.

She charges at the door, attempting to close it through pure strength alone. He kneels beside her, welding it shut. The pod doors begin to close behind them. She tells him to get in the pod. He grits his teeth and shouts

“I’m not leaving you!” 

He moves his arm faster. He’s almost halfway up the door when she says

“You have to!”

and grabs his shirt by the back of the neck.

He lands on the pod’s floor with a _thud_ and he scrambles to his feet, toward the door, but it shuts before he can reach it. Through the small window, he watches as the sentries break through the molten seal. He sees them close in around her, and the look on her face as the pod takes off. She is calm – and at peace. And he thinks one thing.

_Freedom means death._

The shuttle drifts through space. 

.

.

.

Shiro stares at his arm as the lights of the shuttle flickers above him. He gets up, goes to the console and places his hand upon it, trying to find the map Ulaz gave him.

Instead, he finds another – one with five locations, and five lions.

Shiro closes his eyes, and understands.


End file.
